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2.21 LTS
2.21 LTS
  • Welcome
  • What's new in version 2.21
  • Release Notes
  • Getting Started
    • Introduction
    • Portainer architecture
    • Lifecycle policy
    • Requirements and prerequisites
    • Install Portainer BE
      • Set up a new Portainer BE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer BE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer BE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Install Portainer CE
      • Set up a new Portainer CE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer CE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer CE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Add an environment to an existing installation
    • Updating Portainer
      • Updating on Docker Standalone
      • Updating on Docker Swarm
      • Updating on Kubernetes
      • Updating on Nomad
      • Updating the Edge Agent
      • Updating from Portainer 1.x
      • Switching to Portainer Business Edition
        • Upgrade to Business Edition from within Portainer Community Edition
        • Docker Standalone
        • Docker Swarm
        • Kubernetes
        • Upgrading Agent-only deployments
  • Using Portainer
    • Home
      • Snapshot browsing
      • OpenAMT
    • Docker/Swarm
      • Dashboard
      • Templates
        • Application
        • Custom templates
        • Deploy a stack
        • Deploy a container
      • Stacks
        • Add a new stack
        • Inspect or edit a stack
        • Create a template from a deployed stack
        • Webhooks
        • Migrate or duplicate a stack
        • Remove a stack
      • Services
        • Add a new service
        • Configure service options
        • Scale a service
        • View the status of a service task
        • View service logs
        • Roll back a service
        • Webhooks
      • Containers
        • Add a new container
        • View a container's details
        • Inspect a container
        • Edit or duplicate a container
        • Advanced container settings
        • Webhooks
        • Attach a volume to a container
        • View container logs
        • View container statistics
        • Access a container's console
        • Change container ownership
        • Remove a container
      • Images
        • Pull an image
        • Build a new image
        • Import an image
        • Export an image
      • Networks
        • Add a new network
        • Remove a network
      • Volumes
        • Add a new volume
        • Browse a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • Configs
        • Add a new config
        • Remove a config
      • Secrets
        • Add a new secret
        • Remove a secret
      • Events
      • Host
        • Details
        • Setup
        • Registries
      • Swarm
        • Details
        • Cluster visualizer
        • Setup
        • Registries
    • Kubernetes
      • Dashboard
      • kubectl shell
      • Kubeconfig
      • Custom Templates
        • Add a new custom template
        • Edit a custom template
        • Remove a custom template
      • Namespaces
        • Add a new namespace
        • Manage a namespace
        • Manage access to a namespace
        • Remove a namespace
      • Helm
      • Applications
        • Add a new application using a form
        • Add a new application using a manifest
        • Inspect an application
        • Inspect a Helm application
        • Edit an application
        • Webhooks
        • Detach a volume from an application
        • Remove an application
      • Networking
        • Services
        • Ingresses
          • Add an Ingress manually
          • Add an Ingress using a manifest
          • Remove an Ingress
      • ConfigMaps & Secrets
        • Add a ConfigMap
        • Add a Secret
      • Volumes
        • Inspect a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • More Resources
        • Service Accounts
        • Cluster Roles
        • Roles
      • Cluster
        • Details
        • Inspect a node
        • Setup
        • Security constraints
        • Registries
    • Azure ACI
      • Dashboard
      • Container instances
        • Add a new container
        • Remove a container
    • Nomad
    • Edge Compute
      • Edge Groups
      • Edge Stacks
        • Add a new Edge Stack
      • Edge Jobs
      • Edge Configurations
      • Waiting Room
      • Edge Templates
        • Application
        • Custom
    • Account settings
  • Administering Portainer
    • User-related
      • Users
      • Add a new user
      • Turn a user into an administrator
      • Reset a user's password
      • Teams
        • Add a new team
        • Add a user to a team
      • Roles
    • Environment-related
      • Environments
      • Add a new environment
        • Add a local environment
        • Add a Docker Standalone environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Standalone
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Standalone
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Standalone
        • Add a Docker Swarm environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Swarm
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Swarm
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Swarm
        • Add a Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Kubernetes
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Kubernetes
          • Import an existing Kubernetes environment
        • Add an ACI environment
        • Add a Nomad environment
        • Provision KaaS Cluster
          • Civo
          • Akamai Connected Cloud
          • DigitalOcean
          • Google Cloud
          • AWS
          • Azure
        • Create a Kubernetes cluster
          • MicroK8s
            • Offline installation
        • Add an environment via the Portainer API
      • Auto onboarding
      • Groups
      • Tags
      • Manage access to environments
      • Manage access to environment groups
      • Update & Rollback
    • Registries
      • Add a new registry
        • Add a DockerHub account
        • Add an AWS ECR registry
        • Add a Quay.io registry
        • Add a ProGet registry
        • Add an Azure registry
        • Add a Gitlab registry
        • Add a GitHub registry
        • Add a custom registry
      • Browse a registry
      • Manage a registry
    • Licenses
    • Logs
      • Authentication
      • Activity
    • Notifications
    • Settings
      • General
      • Authentication
        • Authenticate via LDAP
        • Authenticate via Active Directory
        • Authenticate via OAuth
      • Shared credentials
        • Add Civo credentials
        • Add Akamai Connected Cloud credentials
        • Add DigitalOcean credentials
        • Add Google Cloud credentials
        • Add AWS credentials
        • Add Azure credentials
        • Add SSH credentials
      • Edge Compute
  • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Portainer Concepts
    • Installing
    • Upgrading
    • Troubleshooting
    • Contributing
  • Advanced Topics
    • CLI configuration options
    • App templates
      • Build and host your own app templates
      • App template JSON format
    • The Portainer Edge Agent
    • Access control
    • Reset the admin user's password
    • Security and compliance
    • Encrypting the Portainer database
    • Using your own SSL certificate with Portainer
    • Using mTLS with Portainer
    • Stream auth and activity logs to an external provider
    • Using Portainer with reverse proxies
      • Deploying Portainer behind Traefik Proxy
      • Deploying Portainer behind nginx reverse proxy
    • How Relative Path Support works in Portainer
    • Helm chart configuration options
    • Docker roles and permissions
    • Kubernetes roles and bindings
    • Deprecated and removed features
  • API
    • Accessing the Portainer API
    • API documentation
    • API usage examples
  • Get More Help
    • Knowledge Base
    • Portainer Academy
    • YouTube
    • GitHub
    • Slack
    • Discord
    • Open a support request
  • Contribute to Portainer
    • Contribute
    • Build instructions
      • Set up a macOS build environment
      • Set up a Linux build environment
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On this page
  • Setting up your SSH user
  • Adding your credentials
  • Generate a new key pair

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  1. Administering Portainer
  2. Settings
  3. Shared credentials

Add SSH credentials

PreviousAdd Azure credentialsNextEdge Compute

Last updated 7 months ago

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SSH credentials are currently used by Portainer in our Kubernetes provisioning feature. Credentials created here will be usable by any admin-level user, though they will not be able to view the actual credentials directly.

Setting up your SSH user

The exact method for configuring your SSH user will differ from platform to platform. For the Kubernetes provisioning feature, we assume the following for the user you create:

  • The user has sudo privileges or is a root user - this is because Portainer needs this level of access in order to install Kubernetes.

  • SSH is listening on port 22 on the server.

We generally recommend the use of a SSH key for authentication rather than password authentication, but Portainer supports both methods.

Adding your credentials

To add your SSH credentials, from the page click Add credentials, then select the SSH option. Fill out the relevant fields as below.

Field/Option
Overview

Credentials name

Enter a name you will use to identify your credential set in the Portainer application.

SSH username

Enter the username for your SSH account.

SSH password

Enter the password for your SSH account. You can leave this field blank if you intend to use SSH key authentication.

Use SSH key authentication

Enable this toggle to use SSH key authentication instead of password authentication.

SSH private key passphrase

If your SSH private key is encrypted, provide the passphrase here.

SSH private key

Paste your SSH private key in this field.

You can also choose to upload your private key by clicking Upload SSH private key and selecting the file to upload. This will replace anything in the SSH private key field with the contents of the uploaded file.

When you are ready, click Add credentials to complete the process.

Generate a new key pair

If you would like to create a new key pair for your SSH credentials, you can do so by clicking Generate new RSA SSH key pair. You will first be prompted to enter an optional passphrase for your private key, then click the Generate SSH key pair button to proceed.

Portainer will then generate a new key pair for you and display the resulting private and public keys. You can copy the values to your clipboard with the Copy buttons, or download the individual files with the Download buttons.

Ensure you take a copy of both the public and private keys, as you will not be able to retrieve them.

Your newly generated public key should be added to the authorized_keys file for the SSH user you intend to use on your nodes for provisioning.

Key pairs are generated with a key size of 4096 bits.

Once you have saved the public and private key files, click Continue. You will be returned to the previous screen and the SSH private key passphrase and SSH private key fields will be populated with your new key pair's passphrase and private key respectively.

Shared credentials